Claw-Lord
by Skysalla
Summary: It had been far to long since Peter had seen the love of his life. So when he's finally back on Earth he stops in to reconnect with her before he has to leave again. One-Shot. Slight crack. Unexpected Pairing. Peter/Other


Author's Note:

WARNING This is one of my crack fics. It is absurd and not meant to be taken seriously. FFN wouldn't let me post it prior to GOTG coming out because they refused to add the GOTG category until after the movie release date. Rude.

I wrote this a few months back for Jess after we had a lengthy debate about what to call the ship between Kitty Pryde and Star-Lord. Because we ship them...hard.

They have since been declared "Quilty" THANKS TRACY FOR THE NAME!

* * *

Peter hadn't been back to Earth in years, but if there was one thing he remembered about the planet it was - Pizza Planet.

Not because of the pizza, but because of his old friend. The friend who had introduced the idea of space into his mind at a young age. The Claw.

As he pulled his truck into the parking lot, he was relieved they were still open. The old building needed a paint job but he didn't care so long as his one true love was still safe within the pizza parlor.

She'd been moved since he last saw her. No longer taking up center stage in the arcade. Kids still ran about, most of them dismissing her in light of modern day's more "interesting" and "exhilarating" games.

With a pocket full of quarters he walked up to the machine and stroked the side, outlining her gleaming silver fingers on the glass.

"Hey baby, I'm home."

He dug into his pocket and pulled loose his first quarter. As he dropped it into the machine he realized her price had gone up in recent years.

"Keepin in classy, hey love?" It made him happy to know she had respected herself enough to make sure people spent what she was worth for their time together. But he wished he had known coming in so he could have brought enough money. This was drastically going to cut into his time with her.

Two more quarters joined the first and she sprung to life in front of his eyes. Her movements just as jumpy as he remembered from his youth. He took hand of the control on the outside of the machine and sent her in a spastic circle around the perimeter of the machine to warm up. It had clearly been too long since she'd had a good dance partner.

He swayed with her and her fingers twirled under his guidance. When she was done, she would let him know.

The pizza joint had changed their arcade music and the new stuff was throwing off his groove so he started humming the tunes of his youth and the favorite that they used to spend hours dancing to.

Eighteen dollars and six renditions of the song later, she collapsed against the floor of her small spaceship prison one last time. Her fingers twitched around a small alien and hauled the little green man free from the safety of his people. She brought the small green guy to the front window of her spaceship as if presenting him for Peter's inspection before releasing the man into the escape hatch of her pod. The little green man squeaked as he bounced down the chute and landed at the base of the opening before Peter's feet.

Peter patted his pocket - no more quarters. Their dance was done for the evening and it seemed the place was getting ready to shut down so he didn't have time to get more money and come back to dance the night away at her side.

With a hand pressed on the glass again he dreamt that one day he might be able to finally hold her delicate metal fingers within his own. But tonight it wasn't meant to be.

He reached in to the hatch of her prison to pick up the small alien from where he had fallen and held the guy out for her to see.

"Thanks, Baby."

When he got out to his truck, Rocket was waiting for him on the hood of his truck. "What kind of joint discriminates their customers?!"

"You're on Earth, Rocket. People don't take kindly to raccoons in restaurants."

"I am NOT a raccoon!"

He opened the driver door and allowed Rocket to jump in before him. Once both inside, Peter reached behind the seat and grabbed the small chest he'd picked up from storage earlier.

Rocket eyed him wearily as he unlocked the chest with the key he'd always kept around his neck. "Whatcha got in there?" He leaned in to get a better look as Peter gently placed the alien in the box.

"A gift from my first love." He looked down at the chest, the various plastic aliens, spaceships, and other extraterrestrial paraphernalia he'd collected. "Every gift she's ever given me."


End file.
